Monday, November 19, 2012

Visit to the Living Computer Museum in Seattle

PDP 8

Perk about leaving in Seattle, is seeing what next Paul
Allen will find to spend his money. Like
a lot of billionaires form his age group he has chicks that he flaunts around
like the SeaHawks but he also spends his money o make sure the art of Nirvana
or Jimmy Hendrix does not get lost, and encases everything is a very flashy
building.

His latest “hobby” is the new Living Computer Museum, I
guess he figured employing engineers to maintain his collection was a little
over the top so instead he decided to create a museum to expose his machines,
AND employ engineers to maintain and act as tour guides, like Ian King below

PDP 8 with open cabinet

The collection is amazing, many sure rare pieces
(apparently, hard to verify but easy to believe), with very cool setups and
colors to die for. The most impressive part of this collection is that
everything is working, and if not being restored. I got to play on a Xerox Alto
for example, the machine that inspired, well everything (Wysywig, Mouse,
Ethernet etc…) but that never really got out of Xerox headquarters. And their Xerox Alto works, I played Pinball
on it. Pinball !! with the Xerox Alto Mouse !!!

The museum is great by itself, but differentiating machines
can be hard, so I highly encourage to get a tour with a guide like Ian, it
brings the whole visit to another level. His knowledge is on par with the
uniqueness of the machines shown on the floor. Be ready for the load room with
air conditioning at full blast to keep the machines cool while they calculate Gemini’s
trip to the moon. Electric bill is around $160k, all these leds are power
hungry.